Urban Dwellers in Plainfield, Philadelphia
Plainfield's earliest settlers, like many others who pioneered this country, were seeking religious and political freedoms denied them in their own countries. By 1685,
seven families (whose name identify them as "all good Scots") established farms along the Cedar Brook. But long before the arrival of the first settlers, Indians had frequented the area in their travels between the Hudson and Delaware rivers. Those living in the Plainfield area were the Watchungs, part of the Lenni-Lenape tribe. They encamped along the Green Brook and in the areas of the Watchung and Park avenues, and Grant and Clinton avenues. The trails they marked out hundreds of years ago ran through the heart of our city. When the railroad was built in the 1800's, it followed that old Indian cut-off to the sea. The new settlement was named Milltown, a reference to the gristmill, which was built in 1760 on the Green Brook, near what is now Watchung Avenue. In 1788, the Quakers moved their Friends Meeting House from the original site near what is today the Plainfield Country Club, to the corner of Watchung Avenue and East Third Street where it remains as one of the historical landmarks of the city. Although the Plainfield area was mostly open farmland with a population of only about 50, it was considered of sufficient military importance during the Revolutionary period to warrant a large militia post.
On April 1, 1800, a post office was established and the name of the growing community (pop. 215) was changed to Plainfield, appropriate to the gently rolling fields
of the area. Plainfield at this time consisted of one Presbyterian church, one Baptist and one Methodist church, two Friend's meeting houses (Hick site and Orthodox), two grist mills, one saw mill, four stores, thirteen master hatters, who manufacture about $74,000 worth of hats annually; five master tailors, employing 70 hands, which work for the southern market; a fire engine, and company, a mutual insurance company. As with many other urban communities, Plainfield's growth followed completion of the railroad in 1838 when service was provided between Elizabethtown and Plainfield. The traveler reached New York by boarding a boat at Elizabethport. With improvement t of railway service, Plainfield became a commuter town for New York. Many urban dwellers that came to spend their summers and vacations "in the country" stayed to build their homes there. By the late 1860's some wooded residences were being converted into stores.
The first settlement in Lumberport, West Virginia, was in 1770 by Major Benjamin Robinson. He bought some land from the Indians but later got a large sum of land from the government as payment for his services in the Revolutionary War. In 1775, Captain Thomas Harbert, who served under Benjamin Robinson, came to the Lumberport area and built a blockhouse to serve as a place of refuge for settlers.
While residing in England, the Puritans and faithful Catholics faced prosecution, which led to their immigration to the New World. Most left England to avoid further harassment. Many groups and parishes applied for charters to America and, led by faithful ministers, the Pilgrims and Puritans made the long voyage to North America. Their religion became a unique element in the New England colonies by 1700. Before landing, the groups settled on agreements, signing laws and compacts to ensure a community effort towards survival when they came to shore, settling in New England. Their strong sense of community and faith in God led them to develop a hardworking society by year 1700, which Documents A and D express through the explanation of how the Pilgrims and Puritans plan to develop...
Massachusetts's inhabitants were Puritans who believed in predestination and the ideal that God is perfect. Many Puritans in England were persecuted for their nihilist beliefs in England because they felt that the Church of England, led by the Kind, did not enforce a literal enough interpretation of the Bible. Persecution punishment included jail and even execution. To seek refuge, they separated to go to Holland because of its proximity, lower cost, and safer passage. However, their lives in Holland were much different than that of England. The Separatists did not rebel against but rather preferred the English culture. They did not want their children to be raised Dutch. Also, they felt that Holland was too liberal. Although they enjoyed the freedom of religion, they decided to leave for America. Pilgrims, or sojourners, left for America on The Mayflower and landed in Cape Cod in 1626. They had missed their destination, Jamestown. Although the climate was extremely rocky, they did not want to move south because of their Puritan beliefs. They thought that everything was predestined, and that they must have landed on this rocky place for a reason. They moved slightly north to Plymouth Rock in order to survive more comfortably. Also because of their Puritan beliefs, they had good relations with the Native Americans. Their pacifist nature led the Indians to help with their crops. In thanks, the Pilgrims celebrated the first thanksgiving in 1621. A second group of Puritans in England, the Massachusetts Bay Company, came to Massachusetts for more economically motivated purposes due to their non-minimalist beliefs.
Many famous business people had business on Placerville’s Main Street like Phillip Armour the meat packer who left upstate New York at the age of 19. He like so many others was headed to California for the gold rush. By age 24 Phillip Armour had made $8,000. Mark Hopkins also from New York was a book keeper when he heard about California’s gold he became a railroad financier who did business in Placerville. The Central Pacific railroad made Hopkins very w...
People immediately began to migrate to the area now known as The Great Plains, and populations in the states along the route began to prosper at record percentages. The original railroad sparked inspiration for other tracks that could branch off of the main line and go to other areas of the country. By the year 1893, there were about four different transcontinental railroads and modifications were made to the original cars, such as a freezer box that was designed to keep crops fresh during the few day voyage. This new improvement also provided the country with several new jobs that were never needed before. All areas such as construction, maintenance, and operation workers were now needed to ensure that things went the way they were supposed to and that the hard work and dedication that went into this six year project did not go to a waste and give the opposite effect than
The original colonists of New England were the Puritans. Initially, the Puritans departed for Denmark after being offered protection. However, Denmark was a Protestant nation: religious maltreatment was raging in England between the Puritans, the Church of England, the Catholic Church, and other Protestant churches. The Puritans wanted religious freedom, so they left for the New World in the Mayflower in September 1620. After the colonists arrived at Plymouth in the New World, they immediately set up governments and villages that revolved around the General Council. The Puritans sought to re-form society in the style they thought God rightly envisioned it to be plan...
The colonists who first arrived in America came to this land because they saw an opportunity to regenerate their religion and to live according to it without subjugation. The immense size of the land sugge...
Railroads being built in the 1860’s were being used for a variety of reasons including moving western cattle to the east for the use of beef, to send and receive goods, and to enable communication with the east as well as others. Since railroads were now becoming more relevant the transcontinental railroad was conceived, spreading from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Therefore, The Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864 were coming into play. These laws enabled the federal government to grant land and loans for railway systems. Due to railroads being built, it affected the west by causing economic and population growth, which lead to more goods and land being sold which encouraged many settlers to move west leading to businesses growing and becoming
While it is usually taught that America was founded by those seeking religious freedom from England, the truth is that a number of English colonies were not exactly religiously tolerant themselves. Colonies like Massachusetts and Connecticut which were typically governed by Puritans were widely known for banishing people who challenged their beliefs on religion. However, colonies like Maryland and Rhode Island would be surprisingly
Colonial America began in the early 1600’s when the European nations directed their focus toward the “New World,” a place of opportunity. According to Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty, England’s motives for colonization were built upon national glory, profit, and religious mission (41). The purpose of the colonies in the New World was to import manufactured goods, produce marketable resources, and serve the interest of the mother country, England (Foner 74). Because economic circumstances in England were not great, England had a large proportion of men, women, and children willing to migrate to the New World and settle into the colonies. Nevertheless, after the British colonies were established, they were separated into three regions: the New England, Middle, and Chesapeake colonies. Each of these regions faced a series of challenges with economic, political, and cultural development.
In 1862 Congress Passed the Pacific Railroad Act to establish railroad lines across the U.S. The act provided for large land grants and funding to two of the major railroad companies in the Union Pacific and Central Railroad companies. This helped the development of the transcontinental railroad, which would stretch across the Great Plains to the west coast. The act ultimately awarded over 170 million acres of land to railroad companies to help move along the settlement of the west by improving the means of shipment and transportation. As a result in the large investment railroad companies made in developing the transportation of the west they promoted the land by often helping relocate immigrants and eastern Americans to the plains. Once there German and Irish immigrants often got job's laying track or were sometimes persuaded by the railroad companies to farm and produce cash crops to help repay the debts owed to them for transportation. Many Americans went west in search of land to farm. It is in the land that these settlers came in search of that Congress once again helped contribute to the economic advancement of the west.
... and societal freedoms continued to attracted settlers from various countries. Still developing, these colonies formed their own identity, at times violating the very reason for immigration: to escape the ties of religious regulations. Upholding personal beliefs over the emergence of new ideas, and the possibility of losing others to another faith spurred the controversy to expel those threatening the colony. As a result, one could not attain complete religious freedom. Instead, families formed based on common belief, or aspirations: those with the desire for land, and large farming moved to the Carolina’s, while those wishing for a Puritan society moved to Massachusetts. The traveling of family immigrants, coupled with the desire for success allowed the immigrants to find new life in the uncharted territory, and as a whole, establish a unique structural identity.
Gentrification is the keystone for the progression of the basic standards of living in urban environments. A prerequisite for the advancement of urban areas is an improvement of housing, dining, and general social services. One of the most revered and illustrious examples of gentrification in an urban setting is New York City. New York City’s gentrification projects are seen as a model for gentrification for not only America, but also the rest of the world. Gentrification in an urban setting is much more complex and has deeper ramifications than seen at face value. With changes in housing, modifications to the quality of life in the surrounding area must be considered as well. Constant lifestyle changes in a community can push out life-time
The puritans were a group of settlers that came to America in the 1620’s from the Netherlands. They had previously immigrated from England to the Netherlands to escape their idea of religious intolerance and the form of Protestantism that was practiced. They also believed that England was a place of sin and was damaging their children. The Puritans left the Netherlands for Virginia for the same reasons and to reform the Church of England a little over a decade later. Slowly more and more members made their way to America in search of purification of the church. Although the main reason for coming to the New World was to escape religious rigidity of England and to create a utopian society based on the true teachings of the bible, the puritans had created a society that was just as unrelenting as the religious and political practices that they had left. The Puritans wanted to be a society that would set an example to others by honoring god and living a moral life, and while they did create a society that flourished economically and politically, their religious views lead to that of intolerance and inequality.
So they travelled by ship to New England in the early 17th century. The New England region became the center for Puritanism. To controll most of the colonies' activity they held a strong connection between church and state. This strong controll could be hold up until the end of the 17th century.